During the night, delegates from countries in the South walked out of a meeting on financing measures to protect biodiversity. According to David Ainsworth, information officer for the United Nations Environment Programme, disagreements emerged as discussions focused on creating a special fund to support the efforts of less affluent countries.
If one of the main goals of COP15 is to reach an agreement to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea areas by 2030, the necessary resources have yet to be allocated. The ongoing negotiations concern not only the amount of funds, but also the mechanisms that will allow the amounts to be distributed to the countries that need them most.
Funding needs are estimated at $200 to $700 billion per year. Specifically, the money could be raised by redirecting grants from projects that harm biodiversity to initiatives that support them.
As delegates work in committees to fine-tune the text of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework – which will eventually become the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris Agreement – the issue of funding needs to be resolved. The success of this agreement depends on it, recalled Francis Ogwal, co-chair of a COP15 working group.
“You can set as ambitious a framework as possible, but if you don’t say exactly how it will be funded, implementation will not reach the level you want. »
— A quote from Francis Ogwal, co-chair of the COP15 negotiations
An opinion shared by Eddy Perez, director of international climate diplomacy at Climate Action Network Canada. Without funding there will be no global biodiversity framework, he stresses.
According to him, a major fear of developing countries, some of which are struggling with economic constraints, is that they do not have the resources to implement their commitments.
The representatives who left the discussions in the middle of the night are looking for a much more collaborative space where we better understand the needs, he summarizes.
Japan and the European Union, which represents 27 countries, have been reluctant to set up a fund, preferring to postpone those talks. The attitude of the European delegates is difficult to understand, even disappointing, says Mr. Perez.
“We are about to adopt the most important global framework of the decade and the only answer from the European Union is to say ‘we will decide in two years’ time’. »
— A quote from Eddy Perez, Director of International Climate Diplomacy at Climate Action Network Canada
As environment ministers from around the world descend on Montreal to address key issues, the parties will have to revise their ambitions upwards, warns Innocent Maloba of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). For the time being, the consultations are, in his opinion, worryingly slow.
On Tuesday, Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault acknowledged that the issue of funding is at the heart of this COP’s war on biodiversity. If Canada’s position is not adopted, the government would prefer to use existing instruments to free up the funds needed, he told a news conference. Creating a new fund could take years, he argued.
The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity ends on December 19th.
More details to come.
